Earlier this month, an elderly woman at Clark East Tower was punched in the face during a drug deal gone bad and subsequent foot chase that ended in her apartment.

But Ypsilanti Township officials say the incident is just the tip of the iceberg. The list of issues at the seven-story, section 8 senior housing complex is extensive and includes prostitution, drug dealing, assaults, bed bugs, hoarding, blight, burglary, identity theft and felony warrant arrests.

At its regular Tuesday meeting, the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees met for the first time with the representatives from the 200-unit senior housing complexes’ owners, Columbus, Ohio-based National Church Residences.

“I don’t like you being here. I think it’s embarrassing to you. You have wasted a lot of time with our police department, our attorney and now me. You’ve violated the trust of this township and board,” Trustee Scott Martin told Pam Monroe, NCR’s vice-president of property management.

“If your company did their job in the first place you wouldn’t have to be here doing what your company has you doing, so shame on you.”

When NCR fully took over the property’s management in 2010, there were 130 calls for emergency service. The property is on pace for 336 calls for service in 2014.

“When you have drug transactions taking place in parking lots at Clark East Tower because people think it's a good place to deal and that drug deal goes awry … and a 66-year-old lady ends up being assaulted while trying to render aid or help, it’s out of control,” Township Attorney Doug Winters told NCR representatives.

“When people think that’s a safe place to deal drugs, it’s out of control.”

But a spike in crime is only half the issue.

NCR still receives a one-of-a-kind tax break at the local level called a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) that saves it approximately $200,000 annually. The ordinance that created the tax break requires the owners to rent its section 8 units solely to residents 62 years old and over.

The company failed to alert the township that it began renting to those 55 years old and up in 2010.

In response to the issues, the board presented four demands NCR must meet in order to continue to receiving the tax break, which has saved it $1.4 million since the non-profit purchased the property for $9.6 million in 2007.

Among those:

Cease leasing to anyone under the age of 62.

Require those under the age of 62 to seek new housing once their lease expires.

Require NCR to enter into a municipal service agreement and pay for police service to offset the “exorbitant” cost of police and fire coverage at the complex.

Allow the township building department to inspect each of the building’s units.

But there was no clear agreement on any of the bullet points except that NCR would no longer sign new leases with residents under 62 years old.

Monroe said the company would review the municipal service agreement, and she wanted more information on what a building inspection would entail. She added that an inspection would have to be approved by the nonprofit’s board since NCR would bear the cost of inspecting the 200-unit building.

Monroe asked for 60 days to review the demands, but board members reminded her that elderly residents were living in poor conditions, and an informal meeting was set up for the following day. The two parties will meet at the board’s regular meeting on May 20 to review progress.

In response to the request that leases of those under 62 years old not be renewed, Monroe told board members NCR receives project-based section 8 housing vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and HUD’s rules won’t let it end a lease without cause.

Monroe was apologetic for the issues and promised a resolution, but also said NCR is reviewing police reports and as of yet didn’t see the same levels of criminal activity as township officials.

“We didn’t see a lot of that,” she said, adding the NCR believed many of the calls were medical related.

A spokesperson for NCR said the same in an email to The Ann Arbor News.

“We are not aware of drug dealing at the property. We believe a large percentage of the calls were medically related, and we are reviewing the information on this,” NCR spokeswoman Karen Telleman wrote.

Monroe, who made her first visit to the property in recent days and has been with NCR for three months, highlighted the investment the company has made in the property, such as adding new air conditioners, new refrigerators, new windows and installing raised toilets.

The nonprofit has also hired Crime Prevention Security's security guards to staff the complex around the clock.

“We’re committed to the property. We’ve made some mistakes, but we want to make sure we correct the things you have concerns with,” Monroe told the Board.

But NCR failing to agree to agree to the township’s demands left several board members skeptical any progress will be made.

“Nothing has been said here tonight that gives me any confidence that the situation will be corrected. A direct question gets asked and you answer around in circles,” he said.

NCR has also maintained that it didn’t know it was required by ordinance to have senior citizens 62 years old and up in order to receive the $200,000 annual tax break.

Board members scoffed at the notion a national nonprofit wasn’t aware of the agreement. Additionally, building staff pointed out that the installation of new windows and other work was done without pulling permits.

“It’s one issue after another of disregarding a local municipality’s rules,” Eldridge said. “I don’t believe they didn’t do their due diligence and didn’t know (the tax break) was there or didn’t understand it. That’s a flat out lie. There’s no way a company that big buys a property that large without doing their due diligence.”